


The Reckoning

by orphan_account



Series: Darkstuck [7]
Category: Homestuck
Genre: Alternate Universe, DarkStuck, F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2012-11-03
Updated: 2013-09-22
Packaged: 2017-11-17 15:57:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 7,519
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/553299
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In the aftermath of the Reckoning, the group tries to deal with the end of the world and the overreaching power of the Felt, while four wanders slowly make their way to New York to aid them.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Aftermath

“So… anyone have any threes?”

John gets back a chorus of “No”s. He sighs and goes fishing.

“Hey, three of swords! My lucky day.”

Everyone’s gathered in the archive, playing Go Fish with Rose’s Tarot deck. John is currently dominating with an insane amount of luck when Fishing, and Rose and Kanaya were coming in second with amazing guesses.

It’s been three months since the Reckoning, and no one has set foot outside. The Four demons had agreed on one thing: Scratch was freaking terrifying.  They didn’t want to face him right away, so they had decided to lock themselves away in the Hive and train some more. It seemed like they were doing an awful lot of training. Unfortunately for John, his ability is too wild to train intensely while living in such small quarters (although he has managed to dig out a new room), although he has become the de facto trash destroyer. Rose too cannot train her ability without stripping someone of his free will for an unknown amount of time, and since no one is very willing to do that she simply spars with John.

Dave and Jade, on the other hand, have made incredible progress with their powers. Dave’s now able to Erase multiple targets at once, and Jade’s illusions can are growing bigger and more realistic.

Everyone had changed in the months that had passed. The physical changes were, of course, the most obvious.  John decided to let his hair grown out to his shoulders, and Rose would privately admit to Jade that it looks, in more vulgar terms, quite hot. But he sometimes uses his hair as a shield to hide behind, and everyone can see the pain that lingers in his eyes. Everyone knows that he still feels guilty about letting the world burn, and despite their best efforts they can’t convince him that it isn’t his fault.

“Dang bro, dat luck.” Dave smirks at John as he examines his hand. Dave hadn’t changed a bit; he still keeps his hair to a short shag and wears his iconic shades, despite living in an underground bunker. But he’s been a real trooper, bringing joy where John can’t find the spirit too, no matter how forced it is.

Jade’s been quieter ever since The Reckoning as well, though she hasn’t reached the depressive state that John has. Like Dave, she hasn’t changed much physically although she has grown noticeably paler.

And Rose has let her hair grow out from the bobbed cut she’s had for years now. It’s just a bit longer than John’s, reaching down to hang just above her shoulders.  Being the cynic that she’s always been, the destruction of the world hasn’t fazed her much. It’s her mother that she’s worried about. She has to give respect to Dave. If he’s worried about his older brother at all, he isn’t showing it. In fact, he has complete faith that Dirk will show up soon.

Suddenly, John throws down his cards, his face a mask of rage. “I’m sick of this. Let’s go.”

Karkat swallows, concern for John evident in his eyes. “Er… what?”

“We’re not doing _anything_ here. We’re just holed up in our little sanctuary while the rest of the world could be dead.” He looks at Rose, his eyes pleading for consent. “We’ve trained hard. We’re gaining nothing by waiting anymore. Please. Can we take the fight to Scratch?”

Rose finds herself concerned when one of the three leaders of their group is asking _her_ for permission to do something. She looks to Dave, but he just avoids her gaze. She wonders why, before realizing that he wants to head out just as badly as John does. She turns to Jade, Karkat, and Gamzee, and they all nod their heads in agreement. She chuckles slightly as she realizes that everyone’s suffering from mild cabin fever. And perhaps John is right. They’ll never get anything done if they stay sequestered away for the rest of their lives. They don’t know how they’ll fair against Scratch if they come across him again. They don’t even know if they’ll survive. But they’ll go down fighting.

The four kids, along with Karkat and Gamzee head to the door leading to the outside. Everyone has a nervous jump to their gait, both excited and fearful at finally going outside. Gamzee reaches the top first, and quickly keys in a code to open the blast doors. With a nervous glance to his companions, he hits the button to raise the dull grey door.

With a creaking groan the door slowly ascends, and the group winces as sunlight hits their eyes. They take in their first breath of the ruined lands, and step outside to face The Reckoning.


	2. Wander

Patricia sits by the campfire, idly poking a nearby pebble with a toe. After a few seconds she looks back at Andrew, and finally asks, “Wh-what are you doing?”

He flinches, startled by the sudden break in the silence. He swallows and looks back at the sign in his hands. “I was thinking… that we need a destination.”

Patricia shrugs in response. “You know that I’m sticking with you until you get sick of me. I’ll head wherever you go.”

He chuckles wryly at her comment. He flips the sign over to let her see. _Welcome to Bethesda, Marlyand!_ Is printed on the sign in bold black letters. “I guess if you’re on board, then we’re heading to New York. We’re close enough, it should take us two weeks at the most.” He glances he back at the sign, drawn back into his thoughts. “I had almost forgotten about them…”

“Forgotten about who?”

“I…” He stops and grimaces. “I guess… it’s a long story.” He sighs and looks out into the distance. “You see, I was part of a mercenary group. Before all this happened. We were called ourselves the Dersite Legion.”

“That’s an odd name.” She remarks.

“Yeah, tell me about it. Apparently it’s an ancient group, one of the original mercenaries from way back when. I dunno, I never really paid attention to the history. It was pretty nice, actually. Until Jack signed us up with a cult called the Felt.”

Seeing confusion in her eyes, he elaborates. “Jack Noir is the leader of the Legion. He’s a… cruel, sadistic man, and also the head of the Legion. No one really liked him, but then again I never dealt with him much. I just took my orders from the platoon leader, and he had the joy of dealing with Jack. And apparently Jack met with the head of a cult called the Felt. They… they actually kind of terrify me.”

He looks directly into her eyes. “They ruled the world. Every major country was in the palm of their hand. The Doctor Scratch—that’s the head of the Felt, you see—managed to place his people in positions of power, and used their influence to place other members into other ruling positions. Pretty soon they took control over everything, and used that to further their religious agendas. Which involved… destroying the earth…”

He hears a gasp, and doesn’t dare look at her now. Swallowing deeply, he continues, “I never had a problem with my work before. But once we started doing the Felt’s work… we did terrible things. Rebellions and assassinations, those were normal. But this time, we _massacred_ people. Innocent civilians, and we just… we… we went too far. And I’m not the only one who felt that way. A good number of us left after that. We split up. Not sure why. Seems rather idiotic, in hindsight.”

He stops, unable to continue. She doesn’t reply. The seconds stretch to minutes, with the deafening silence threatening to overwhelm him. Finally, she softly asks, “So why are we going to New York?”

He lets loose a bitter laugh and rubs at his eyes. “Oh god, you’re still coming with me?”

“I don’t see why not. I mean, you did do some terrible things… but on the other hand, I’d be dead if you hadn’t let me tag along. Plus, we’ve been together for a few weeks. If you had any bad intentions, I think you’d have done something by now.”

“Well… anyways, we’re heading to New York because apparently there’s some resistance to the Felt out there. Jack and Scratch never seemed too bothered by them, but the other members of the Felt sure did seem frightened of them. They call them Demons. I guess they’re a rival cult to the Felt or something? Anyways, they’d like to see Scratch dead, so I’d like to call them friends.”

“But why are they called ‘Demons’?”

“I don’t suppose Scratch would call his enemies ‘Saints’ now, would he?”

“Meh, I suppose. So when are we going?”

He looks over their meager supplies. They have two bedrolls, a tent, a hunting rifle with limited ammunition, many knives for variety of uses, and some cans of food and bottles of water. “We’ll head out tomorrow, make our way into the city to see if we can’t find any useful supplies, and from then just maintain a northerly course.” He sweeps an eye over her critically. “Although, you _have_ been free loading long enough.”

She wastes no time in adopting a frightened expression. “You… aren’t going to kick me out, are you?”

“What? No!” He knows about her past, so he can’t blame her for her fear. “Sorry hun, but in this world you can’t afford to be useless. I’ve been a tad depressed these last few weeks, so I’m sorry for not doing this early. No, I’m going to teach you to fight and hunt. You’ll need survival skills if anything happens to me.”

She laughs at this. “So what, I’m your apprentice?

He joins in on the laughter. “Yes, so get some sleep. Training’s going to be rough.”

He’s scouted out the area and found no signs of life nearby, so he gets out his bedroll as well. He’s a light enough sleeper as it is, so he’s confident that he’ll wake up if he’s needed to. Lying within the warmth of his bedroll, he faces the north. _Well Demons,_ he thinks to himself, _we’ll meet soon enough. I hope you don’t disappoint._


	3. Expedition

Sunlight floods the entryway as everyone shields their eyes from the golden rays. “Damn, that’s bright.” Dave mutters.

“But… you have _sunglasses_ on.”

“Shush, Harley.”

Everyone cautiously moves outward, taking in their surroundings warily. Nothing’s changed as far as they can see, but seeing as they don’t reside in a residential area, there was no reason to bomb them. Rose strides forward, pacing anxiously before turning back to the group.

“Hey, John. Do you think we could… uh…. I mean, do you think… that…” She quickly rambles, avoiding his eyes. It doesn’t take him long to piece together what she’s trying to say.

“Rose.” He interrupts her, laying a hand on her shoulder. “I’m sure we can stop by your mother’s house. Right guys?” He turns back to the rest of the others. Gamzee and Karkat look to each other and shrug.

“Well, if we’re going to be checking out the world, we’ll be heading to the city.” Gamzee offers. “The reserve is just along the way.”

Karkat frowns. “That’s going to be… probably a week, round trip. We’ll need camping gear.”

John nods, feeling more confidant and purposeful than he has in months. “Okay, you and Dave go get sleeping bags and tents. Gamzee and I’ll get some provisions for the trip, and everyone can get a weapon if they want. We’ll meet back here… in an hour? Does that work for everyone?” No one objects, so they split up and gather their gear.

\---

An hour later, everyone is on the road to the Adirondack Mountain Reserve, wherein lies Rose’s house and, hopefully, her mother. Dave and John, being the strongest members of the group, each carry a tent (one for the girls, and a larger one for the guys). Everyone has their own sleeping bag and Karkat and Gamzee each carry a backpack full of food and water. Rose, having the best sense of direction, carries the map and the compass, and Jade carries miscellaneous gear. Karkat is armed with a sickle, Gamzee a club, John his dagger, and Dave with his fists.

“So, Mrs. Navigator,” John asks, “What’s our schedule?”

Rose frowns and peers at the map. “If we maintain a good speed for the rest of the day, we should be able to make it most of the way to my house by nightfall. After that, it should only take us half a day to reach my house, and from there two or three days to New York.”

John nods and, all of his conversation options exhausted, begins to take in the scenery. It’s quite eerie, how they walk next to a street but no cars pass them by, but quite a few burnt husks lie in the middle. He wonders what had happened to them, since there weren’t any bombs to cause the crash. Did they panic, hearing the rumble, and swerve into one another? Were they so shocked that their hearts simply failed? He growls and tears his eyes off of the morbid scene, looking back down to the dusty ground below him. He should have done something. He should have saved them.

\---

They walk for a long while. Dave’s the only one who really keeps track of time anymore, but no one cares to ask him for it. Nothing attacks them, nothing living even lies within sight. Finally, they come upon a thick forest, signaling the start of the park. They enter it, and soon John’s able to notice fleeting movement, small animals scurrying out of their way. He sighs inwardly, releasing a breath that he didn’t know that he’d been holding in, relieved that at least _something_ still lives. They walk for a few hours more, until Rose reluctantly declares that they’ve gone long enough. Exhausted, everyone immediately drops their bags and eagerly starts to form a little camp.

While the girls set up the tents, John, Gamzee, and Karkat gather nearby branches to form a little fire. Eager to bring warmth into the chilly autumn weather, John lights a match and brings it down to their pile of sticks.

It takes him fifteen minutes to light the fire. Or rather, it take fifteen minutes for Dave Strider to stop laughing at John’s failed attempts and saunter over to him to light it in one blow. John inwardly curses the Strider family.

After that, Gamzee worries that the fire might attract unwanted attention. That starts a lively debate, involving heated discussion on whether or not a little warmth is worth risking their safety, before Jade points out that John and Dave can just zap anything that comes nearby. He can’t find an argument for that.

Dave and Jade sit down next to John, feasting on canned peaches and spam.

“Do you think she’s alright?” Jade asks, looking pointedly at Rose, who’s sitting away from everyone else.

“Nah, she’s too worried about her mom.” John sighs. “Worst part is, we probably won’t find her.”

“What do you mean!?”

Dave shakes his head. “Hate to break it to you, but he’s right. It’s been months. Even if she did go back home at the beginning, she could have left at any time to go look for us.”

“And that’s why we left voice mail!”

“No phone service.”

“And we emailed her!”

“Jade, the internet’s out.”

“Agh, would you two stop being so cynical!?” She growls.

John shrugs. “I don’t know what else to tell you. But,” he rises, “I suppose I’ll talk to her, see if I can’t cheer her up.” He tosses the empty can into the air and Devours it with a _pop_.

Dave nods in respect. “hope you succeed, bro. I’ll be damned if we all couldn’t use some cheer.”

\---

Rose stiffens slightly as she hears someone sit down behind her.

“H-hey Rose.” A timid voice starts from behind. She relaxes.

“John. How are you?”

“Oh, well, I’m pretty good, considering. You?”

“I’m well.”

“Are you?”

She chuckles slightly. “Now now, John. Aren’t I supposed to be the psychoanalyst?”

“Yeah, you are. And I’m the moral support. So tell me what’s wrong.”

She sighs heavily. After a minute, she states in a flat voice, “You know.”

“I do.” More silence. “You… want to talk about it?”

“I really don’t, if you don’t mind.”

“Oh.” He sounds shocked, as if he wasn’t expecting that answer. “Well, uh, that’s okay too. I mean, but you know I’m here if you need me. And Dave. And Jade. And K—“

“Thank you, I get the point.”

“Right. Well. I’m, uh… I guess I’m going to get some sleep.”

She nods, but offers no response. He waits a minute more before disappearing into the darkness.


	4. Home

Roses collapses, tears welling up in her eyes. John barely manages to lunge forward and catch her before she hits the ground. Everyone averts their eyes from the scene before them, pangs of sorrow rippling through their hearts, but no one knowing how to empathize with Rose.

Before them lies the Lalonde manor, door ripped from its hinges, and the eastern wall has a gaping hole in its center. Swallowing, Rose clumsily removes herself from John’s arms and staggers forward inside. It’s been looted and vandalized, some furniture missing, the rest flipped and shredded. Dave makes his way to the kitchen to see that the pantry is empty, and what’s left in the refrigerator is rotten beyond all hope.

“So Rose… do you want to check upstairs?” John hesitantly asks. She looks at him with pure agony in her eyes before giving him a small nod. They head upstairs slowly, deciding with an unspoken agreement to check out her room first.

Her mother had left the room they way Rose had left it, not that it meant much now. Somehow, someone had managed to take the mattress from her bed, most of her posters had been vandalized, and what clothes she had left behind were long gone. She takes a deep breath, and lets a single tear tickle down her face. John moves to embrace her, but she roughly shoves him away and goes to her mother’s room.

It’s in even worse shape than her own. Considering how lavish it is—half bedroom, half barroom, it shouldn’t be surprising. The bedroom’s been trashed, shreds of blankets and tattered rags of clothing litter the floor. Most of the alcohol has either been drunk or emptied out of the bottles, and all that remains are shattered bottles and shards of glass coating the entire floor. Nothing of value remains.

Rose sinks to the floor again and lets out a sob. “She’s… not here…”

John hesitantly reaches out to hear, and she doesn’t rebuke to contact this time. “That’s because she’s elsewhere. Safe, and waiting for us to find her.”

She snorts. “You don’t know that. She probably passed out in a ditch and drowned in her own vomit.”

“That’s… _damn_ , that’s… don’t think that way Rose!”

“Yeah, why not?” She asks bitterly. “When’s anything gone our way.”

“Well…” _Ah shit, she’s right! No, bad Egbert! You’re supposed to be the positive one!_ “We’re alive, aren’t we?”

And then, in a rare flash of genius, John Egbert forms an idea. “Rose!”

She looks up worriedly.

“Remember that… Schorderger guy?”

“What?”

“You know! The guy with the cat!”

“…Schrödinger?”

“Yeah, yeah! That guy! But more importantly, his cat!”

“John, where are you going with this?”

“You told me about that experiment thing, the really sad one. Where he stuffed his cat in the box and… did something to it. But the more important thing, there was something about him not being dead or alive until they opened the box and knew!”

“That’s… good enough…”

“And your mom. I’ll be honest, I don’t know if she’s alive. But you don’t know that she’s dead. She’s Schroderger’s cat, and unless we find out otherwise, why CAN’T she be alive?”

She has to bite her tongue at responding to that. She can list off any number of reasons as to why she couldn’t be alive, but seeing John’s earnest expression, and hearing his heartfelt speech, she can’t help but feel a bit more positive.

“John, that is… the strangest motivational speech I’ve ever heard.” She pulls him into a hug, burying her face into his neck. “Thank you for being here.”

He warmly returns the hug. “Always. Now, do you want to stay here a bit longer, or…?”

She pulls away and considers the notion, but finally shakes her head. “No, I don’t think staying here will do me any good. Let’s just be on our way.”

She exits the room; takes on last, brief glance at her own room, and gives it a grim, reminiscent smile. And then she leaves.

\---

While Rose and Gamzee bend over a map, discussing various routes to New York City, Dave strolls over to John.

“Hey man, I don’t know what happened up there, but thanks. She seems… not happy, but… better.”

John shrugs and looks at Dave. “I honestly pity you both. At least I don’t worry about my dad.”

Dave laughs at that. “What, you think I’m concerned about Dirk? Dude could walk across lava, he’ll survive a teensy weensy apocalypse.”

“Dave. You can convince Rose that you have no worries at all. Jade already believes that nothing will shake you. I’ve known you since we were six. You aren’t fooling me.”

His face turns ashen and runs away from John.


	5. The Ruined City, part one

Rose gives John an inquiring look. “So, what was with Strider running from you?”

John shrugs. “Well, I appear to be the group therapist while we travel.” He chuckles a bit at that. “Well, Dave just… didn’t want to talk about his problems.”

Jade comes walking towards them, concern in her eyes. “Hey, is Dave alright? He just ran away from you, and now I can’t find him.”

He frowns, before deciding that she doesn’t need to worry needlessly. “Nah, he’s a Strider. He’ll be fine in a few minutes.”

Relief floods across her face. “Yeah, of course he’ll be.” She doesn’t doubt him for a second. “Well, Gamzee said that we should head out in a few minutes, so I’m going to go get my bags.” With that, she speeds away, abruptly leaving the two alone again.

John flashes Rose a grin. “So you ready to see what the city’s like now?’

Rose frowns. “John, I don’t think it will be something to look forward too.”

“Come on, maybe we can find survivors! Maybe we can find Scratch!”

Rose shrugs in response. “We’ll have to see, won’t we?”

\---

_Crunch. Crunch. Crunch._

The only thing he can hear is the sound of his boots crushing leaves underfoot.

_Crunch. Crunch. Crunch._

Birdsong has faded into silence, and he can’t see any animals scurrying around anymore.

_Crunch. Crunch. Crunch._

His heart picks up, and his breath quickens. He’s finally arrived. He’s finally reached his goal.

_Crunch. Crunch. Crunch._

He pulls his tattered gray robes tightly around him. The Wayward Vagabond has arrived.

\---

John sighs loudly. No one takes notice. He grits his teeth and ponders sighing even louder, but that would just make him feel like an attention whore. Irritated, he checks his watch to see that they still have another three hours to go. Walking is so _boring_!

True, he’s glad that he isn’t Karkat or Gamzee, who look absolutely miserable to be traveling this distance, but everyone one of them is irritated by the dull nature of their walk. John had tried to start a friendly game of “Eye-Spy” earlier, but once everyone realized that the choices pretty much boiled down to “Tree, sky, or ground,” the game lost all of its value.

He decides to move next to Dave. He taps his friend on the shoulder, and motions him back. They slowly fall to the back of the line, where they can talk in private.

“Hey, Dave? I just wanted to apologize for earlier. You know, I shouldn’t have said that.”

Dave grins wanly and shakes his head. “Nah man. You’re…” he laughs in disbelief. “You’re pretty damn perceptive, Egbert.”

“Wha—really?”

“Yeah, I mean, you pretty much called me out. You know, just don’t let Jade know. She worries enough about you and Rose, I don’t want to add any more stress to her life.”

John nods in agreement, and they break their conversation with an unspoken agreement.

\---

The Vagabond finds a home that seems to be in decent shape, and he breaks the lock. He finds it empty and abandoned, stripped of anything of value, but that doesn’t worry him. He only sought shelter, not supplies. He finds the largest room and quickly makes himself at home, setting up a temporary bedroom and indulging himself with some extra food. But now, he reflects, he’s in trouble. Getting to New York was the easy part, despite the distance he had to travel. He smirks, remembering how optimistic he had once been, how he had planned and planned to destroy Jack, and how he had been so excited to meet the Demons that he would be serving.

But the Demons were the problem. He had no clue how to contact them, and he has no clue where to find them. He doesn’t even know if they’re still in New York, let alone where in the state. The City’s only a temporary resting place, one where he hopes to rest a while to recuperate from his journey and possibly even gather some information if he’s lucky.

He peers out the window to gaze at the darkening sky. First, he decides, it’s time to sleep.

\---

“Aha!” John crows victoriously, pointing to a sign- **New York City**

“Finally!” Karkat moans, stretching his sore legs. “I think I’m about to drop dead from this stupid expedition.”

“Yeah,” Gamzee agrees, “Let’s go find somewhere to rest. We can always search in the morning.”

“I don’t think anyone’s going to argue.” Dave comments dryly.

John laughs, but his grin soon fades away as he gazes at the skyline. It’s wrecked, the buildings that once towered over the earth slowly crumble to ruin. A reminder of his failure to save the world.

He swallows, drops his eyes to the ground, and follows his friends into the ruined city.


	6. The Ruined City, Part 2

Rose gives John an inquiring look. “So, what was with Strider running from you?”

John shrugs. “Well, I appear to be the group therapist while we travel.” He chuckles a bit at that. “Well, Dave just… didn’t want to talk about his problems.”

Jade comes walking towards them, concern in her eyes. “Hey, is Dave alright? He just ran away from you, and now I can’t find him.”

He frowns, before deciding that she doesn’t need to worry needlessly. “Nah, he’s a Strider. He’ll be fine in a few minutes.”

Relief floods across her face. “Yeah, of course he’ll be.” She doesn’t doubt him for a second. “Well, Gamzee said that we should head out in a few minutes, so I’m going to go get my bags.” With that, she speeds away, abruptly leaving the two alone again.

John flashes Rose a grin. “So you ready to see what the city’s like now?’

Rose frowns. “John, I don’t think it will be something to look forward too.”

“Come on, maybe we can find survivors! Maybe we can find Scratch!”

Rose shrugs in response. “We’ll have to see, won’t we?”

\---

_Crunch. Crunch. Crunch._

The only thing he can hear is the sound of his boots crushing leaves underfoot.

_Crunch. Crunch. Crunch._

Birdsong has faded into silence, and he can’t see any animals scurrying around anymore.

_Crunch. Crunch. Crunch._

His heart picks up, and his breath quickens. He’s finally arrived. He’s finally reached his goal.

_Crunch. Crunch. Crunch._

He pulls his tattered gray robes tightly around him. The Wayward Vagabond has arrived.

\---

John sighs loudly. No one takes notice. He grits his teeth and ponders sighing even louder, but that would just make him feel like an attention whore. Irritated, he checks his watch to see that they still have another three hours to go. Walking is so _boring_!

True, he’s glad that he isn’t Karkat or Gamzee, who look absolutely miserable to be traveling this distance, but everyone one of them is irritated by the dull nature of their walk. John had tried to start a friendly game of “Eye-Spy” earlier, but once everyone realized that the choices pretty much boiled down to “Tree, sky, or ground,” the game lost all of its value.

He decides to move next to Dave. He taps his friend on the shoulder, and motions him back. They slowly fall to the back of the line, where they can talk in private.

“Hey, Dave? I just wanted to apologize for earlier. You know, I shouldn’t have said that.”

Dave grins wanly and shakes his head. “Nah man. You’re…” he laughs in disbelief. “You’re pretty damn perceptive, Egbert.”

“Wha—really?”

“Yeah, I mean, you pretty much called me out. You know, just don’t let Jade know. She worries enough about you and Rose, I don’t want to add any more stress to her life.”

John nods in agreement, and they break their conversation with an unspoken agreement.

\---

The Vagabond finds a home that seems to be in decent shape, and he breaks the lock. He finds it empty and abandoned, stripped of anything of value, but that doesn’t worry him. He only sought shelter, not supplies. He finds the largest room and quickly makes himself at home, setting up a temporary bedroom and indulging himself with some extra food. But now, he reflects, he’s in trouble. Getting to New York was the easy part, despite the distance he had to travel. He smirks, remembering how optimistic he had once been, how he had planned and planned to destroy Jack, and how he had been so excited to meet the Demons that he would be serving.

But the Demons were the problem. He had no clue how to contact them, and he has no clue where to find them. He doesn’t even know if they’re still in New York, let alone where in the state. The City’s only a temporary resting place, one where he hopes to rest a while to recuperate from his journey and possibly even gather some information if he’s lucky.

He peers out the window to gaze at the darkening sky. First, he decides, it’s time to sleep.

\---

“Aha!” John crows victoriously, pointing to a sign- **New York City**

“Finally!” Karkat moans, stretching his sore legs. “I think I’m about to drop dead from this stupid expedition.”

“Yeah,” Gamzee agrees, “Let’s go find somewhere to rest. We can always search in the morning.”

“I don’t think anyone’s going to argue.” Dave comments dryly.

John laughs, but his grin soon fades away as he gazes at the skyline. It’s wrecked, the buildings that once towered over the earth slowly crumble to ruin. A reminder of his failure to save the world.

He swallows, drops his eyes to the ground, and follows his friends into the ruined city.

\---Chapter Six---

The Ruined City, Part 2

John flinches as the morning sun’s rays flit across his face. He slowly stretches, before fully awakening. He lazily gazes around the room, and sees that he’s the first one awake. Deciding to let everyone rest a little longer, he quietly slips out of the building and into the streets.

They had found a street with most of its buildings relatively intact, and chose the safest looking building for their new home. The one they had chosen still had all four walls intact, and the roof only had a hole in it, as opposed to no roof at all.

**_HAS THOUST FORMED ANY PLANS FOR THY STAY HERE_ **

_Nah, not really. We were just going to wander around to see if we could find any survivors, or Doctor Scratch, or anything… why, do you know something?_

**_WELL… WHATEVER MAY COME, THOU WISLT NOT LEAVE EMPTY HANDED_ **

_Oh really? Care to explain?_

**_WAIT AND SEE, YOUNG ONE_ **

\---

The Wayward Vagabond rises early, quickly taking in his surroundings. No one’s taken anything, so either no one knows of his presence, or they don’t care enough to investigate him. He carefully builds a fire to cook some rabbit, and opens a can of peaches to sate his hunger while he waits for the meat to cook. Once it has, he divides the rabbit into two portions—one for now, and one for lunch. After he finishes his meager breakfast, he extinguishes the fire and grabs a hunting knife. It’s time to search for those Demons.

\---

John wakes the others after an hour, deciding that they didn’t need to sleep _that_ long. He’s already made everyone breakfast, although making a bunch of sandwiches didn’t really utilize his culinary skills. Nevertheless, they blearily accept his food and down it with bottled water. It takes another ten minutes for everyone to become fully awake (read: Jade), but once they are it’s down to business.

“Alright,” John starts. They’re sitting in a circle, planning their course of action. “Any suggestions?”

Dave shrugs. “Has your Voice given us any suggestions?”

“Just that we ‘Won’t leave empty handed.’”

Rose raises an eyebrow at this. “That’s a bit vague.”

“Well,” Gamzee pulls out a map, “We’re over here, on the northwestern side of the city. We could travel the city clockwise; that might help us cover the most ground.”

John nods and rises. “Shall we get at it?”

The four Demons rise without any problem, but Karkat and Gamzee are noticeably slow. Karkat groans and rubs his legs. “Agh, I’m sore. You guys really don’t feel bad after walking this distance?”

Jade shrugs. “I feel great!”

Karkat shakes his head in ridicule. “Sheesh. You guys really are freaks.”

John chuckles at that. “You two can stay here and rest if you want.”

But Karkat shakes his head. “Splitting up just sounds like a terrible idea.” He grabs his scythe and whirls it around experimentally.

“Besides,” Gamzee points out, “What if you run into those imps again? You’ll need all the help you can, if you don’t want to kill yourself Devouring them.”

John just grins. “The more the merrier!”

Rose is a bit bemused by his optimism. “Well then, if we’re done talking, shall we head out?”

And with that, they exit their base.


	7. The Ruined City, Part 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, sorry about the lack of an update last week. With exams, everything got a bit hectic. Well, grats on surviving the apocalypse and all, and have an early merry christmas!

“Damn, this place is a wasteland.” Dave mutters.

The group picks their way through crumbled buildings and shattered streets. They’ve poked around the city for about an hour, to no avail. A heavy air looms around the group, and a mixture of boredom and frustration has amassed great tension throughout the friends. Dave and Karkat have fallen into a strained silence and terse bickering, and even John bears a frown. He wipes dust from his eyes as they poke through the ruins of yet another building.

 _Voice,_ He begins calmly; _You said that we’d find something useful. Now I don’t want to be rude, but can you give us a hint or something? It’s not going to do us any good to wander around aimlessly._

Silence.

_Yeah that’s great, thanks. You’re a real bro. Thanks man!_

He sighs and kicks a pile of rubble venomously. “This is freaking pointless.” He mutters. Luckily, no one hears him. Or at least they have the decency to ignore the statement.

**_WELL MAYHAPS YOU’LL ATTRACT HIS ATTENTION WITH A BIT OF ENTERTAINMENT_ **

_Entertainment? What do you- oh no no no!_

“Imps!” Gamzee shouts.

_SON OF A BITCH!_

He draws his dagger and looks around. Dave’s already sporting a grin as he cracks his knuckles, and Gamzee chuckles with glee.

“Now this!” Gamzee smiles, “Is going to be a nice distraction.”

“Yeah but… Remember that they aren’t exactly easy?” John asks hesitantly. Aside from Dave and Gamzee, everyone else seems to be approaching the situation with an appropriate level of caution. Karkat and Jade move into a sturdy building that looks somewhat defendable, and Rose is motioning for everyone to follow. John, Karkat, and Gamzee, being the three with actual weapons, situate themselves ahead of the rest. Rose, Jade, and Dave stay behind them, ready to take on any imps that might get behind the three.

They wait a brief moment, and then the imps are upon them. They‘re in a mild swarm of about twenty. They don’t move in a rank or formation, they don’t come in waves. It’s just a black writhing mass of monster that slams into the pathetic wall of defense mounted by the group. It’s a dark wave of claws and teeth, and they respond by stabbing and slashing and smashing everything within range.

As he pierces the neck of his fifth imp, he counts his blessings. Scratch may have designed them to be immune to demonic powers, but physically they’re still vulnerable as any creature, and they’re only the size of a large house cat.

He grimaces as one latches onto him from behind, its talons sinking into the flesh behind his ear, but it jerks and goes limp before he can even confront it. He catches two imps climbing over a struggling Rose, and lunges forward to help her. The fight goes on like this, everyone struggling to keep an eye out for one another in the midst of the chaos. And then, in a matter of minutes, the fight concludes.

They’re left panting and bloody; coated with a fine sheen of sweat. They’re marred with scratches and bite marks, but nothing that won’t heal with time. John kicks a few corpses out of his way as he slowly exits the building, clutching a deep scratch on his face. Dave straightens his shades, which have miraculously survived the encounter, and focuses on straightening his hair.

“Well… everyone alright?”

He gets a chorus of dull responses, and decides that everyone’s fine. But he freezes at the sound of slow clapping coming from the rooftops. He looks up to see a man grinning at them, carrying on with his slow applause. “That was a great show kids.”

\---

The Wayward Vagabond glances down at the children. Well, he can’t really call them children. They’re probably college age, give or take a few years. However, they’ve shown themselves to be handy in a fight. Of course, they should be if they’ve survived this long. But maybe he can ask them… Maybe they’ll know… maybe they’ll know about the demons.


	8. An Intermission

"So when do you think they'll be back?"

"I don't know."

"I mean, they've been gone for three days now. You think they'll be back soon?"

"I don't know, Tavros."

"Well, I suppose it does depend on when they left. Maybe they haven't left yet. That would mean it'll take them at least three days to get here, probably four."

"I don't know, Tavros."

"I didn't ask a question. Are you even listening to me?"

"I don't know, Tavr... I-yes, I'm listening."

He sighs and drops his gaze from Vriska. "No, you aren't."

"Gosh, I've been trying. Do you have to be so needy!?"

He scoffs at that. "Sometimes I'm still surprised that neither of us have gotten fed up with our relationship."

"Come on, Tav. We've had this conversation EVERY day where you wonder when they're going to get back. I really don't pay attention because there's nothing new to discuss. They'll get back when they get back, and that's that."

Tavros sighs and wheels away. "I'm gonna go check in on Sollux."

"Alright. Oooh, and if you see Kanaya, can you ask her to bring me some peaches? I LOVE peaches!"

He raises an eyebrow at her. "Can't you get your own peaches?"

"Naaaah, I don't want them that badly."

Shaking his head, he leaves the room. It takes him about three minutes to reach the archives, where Sollux spends his waking hours. He probably sleeps here too, Tavros just hasn't bothered to check. As usual, Aradia and Feferi are hovering over him to tend to his every want and need. Tavros can't help but laugh at how oblivious  his friend is to love.

He wheels up to the three. "Hey, how's it going?"

Aradia looks  a bit irritated to see him (he's guessing that he's cutting in on her Sollux even more than Feferi  is), but Feferi greets him with a wide smile. Sollux just grunts a greeting.

"So what brings you down here?" Feferi asks him.

"Ah, just wandering."

"Vriska being a bitch again?" Sollux grunts. Feferi gasps and admonishes him for his blunt choice of words, while Aradia fails to mask a snicker. Sollux just flushes and looks down, shrugging noncommittally.

"She's just... stressed..." Well, at least he tried to defend her. Everyone else shakes their heads knowingly. "Aaaanyways," He begins, eager to change the topic, "You looking at anything interesting?"

Sollux shakes his head. "No, not to you at least. If you want information on the Felt or Demons, I'm afraid to say that what little we have is all that we're going to have. We've scoured this place and there aren't anymore books on them."

"Oh, what a shame.... So when do you think they'll be back?"

"Oh god not this topic again."

Tavros blinks in confusion. "I... already asked you?"

"No, but Vriska's been whining to me about you."

"... oh."

At this point, Aradia and Feferi see no reason to stick around and disappear among the shelves. Tavros takes the time to lean in and whisper, "So... they've been acting pretty friendly around you."

"They have?"

"Well... yes. They have."

"Oh. That's nice." Sollux returns to his book. A minute passes. And another. Tavros shifts uncomfortably.

"Do you... do you get what I'm hinting at?"

"Hm?"

"Look, I'm gonna lay it to you straight. Have you _ever_ considered that someone, or anyone, might like you as more than a friend?"

"More than a friend?"

It takes all his will to not burry his face in his hands. "Yes. More than a friend."

Sollux stops to consider this. His face scrunches in concentration, and Tavros can practically see the gears turning in his head, he can smell the smoke from the rusty gears turning in his head. An eternity passes. Sollux opens his mouth to speak.

"Nope." He returns to his book.

"What!? What do you mean no!? You've never even considered it!?"

"Wha? Tavros, are you coming on to me?"

"Noooooo!!! I'm talking about the blatant crush that Feferi and Aradia have on you!"

Sollux stiffens as Tavros clamps a hand over his mouth. Another few minutes pass by. Finally, Sollux draws in a slow breath.

"They do?"

".... what?"

"I mean, are you sure that you aren't just imagining things?"

Tavros lets out a long groan. "They freaking dote on you. Feferi makes you lunch!"

"It's called being a good friend."

"Gamzee doesn't make you lunch."

"Vriska doesn't make you lunch either." He counters.

"... no, I make her lunch."

"She really wears the pants in the relationship, doesn't she?"

"Shut up."

Even more time passes by, and Tavros starts to regret ever coming in this room. "Look man, why are you so against the idea of someone liking you?"

"Why are you so intent on giving me relationship advice?"

"Because you're so freaking oblivious to their affections!"

Sollux stops and strokes his chin. "You really think they like me?"

" _YES!"_

"Hmm.... I'll have to think on this."

Tavros gracefully slips out, wishing that John would come back already. It was nice to have someone sane to talk to.


	9. A brief Author's note

Well guys, I have some news. 

Last year, I had a pretty major crisis of confidence regarding this piece. I noticed (at least, in my eyes) a decrease in the quality of the updates, which, in conjunction with the increasing stress of life, I eventually gave up on this piece. However, it's something that's pretty much haunted me ever science I did, because I remembered how much I enjoyed writing this series, and having to give up on it really made me feel uncomfortable. However, a year later, I feel like I can working on this again. Just one minor change: There won't be a strict schedule.

The schedule was probably the main reason that I quit. I was under the illusion that I could follow my self imposed schedule and crank out a quality chapter each and every week. Obviously, I couldn't. That was probably one of the main stressors regarding this work. So quality will trump speed, and the updates will come when they will, and though I hope that they won't take more than two weeks at the most, I can't promise anything other than the fact that there will be chapters in the future.

Thanks to everyone who commented on my works, it was mainly those pieces of positive feedback that gave me the courage to restart this work.

 

-Airtamis.


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